BioShock ships 1.5M, sequels being discussed

Take-Two execs toast PC/360 action-adventure's success, say IP now a "very important franchise" for the publisher.

Last week, newly installed president of EA Sports Peter Moore told GameSpot that August sales of one title would prove third-party publishers aren't being squeezed out by console-maker-made exclusives. Ironically, the game in question wasn't an EA title. Instead, it was BioShock, a PC and Xbox 360 action adventure game made by bitter EA rival Take-Two Interactive.

It turns out these comments by the former Xbox 360 and Games for Windows marketing chief were prescient. Today during a post-earnings report conference call with analysts, Take-Two Interactive Chairman Strauss Zelnick said BioShock was already a runaway success for the controversial publisher, which has been set back by the Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2 delays.

"I'm particularly pleased with the tremendous market response to 2K's BioShock," said Zelnick. "It is reported we are the top-selling title at GameStop, less than a month since launch. We have already shipped more than 1.5 million units. Clearly we have a new hit franchise on our hands. And this one was developed internally, and we own the IP. We're proving our ability to diversify Take-Two's product portfolio."

While he did not reveal actual sales numbers for the game, Zelnick also made much of the fact that BioShock has the best aggregate review score on GameSpot sister site Metacritic. He also said the company is considering sequel-izing the action adventure along the same lines as Grand Theft Auto.

While opining on the GTA development cycle, Zelnick said, "I would say probably roughly an every-three-year [release] schedule would be optimal... I expect we would apply roughly the same strategy to BioShock, because BioShock is shaping up to be a very important franchise. I don't want to say more than that about BioShock because I certainly don't want to jinx it, but I feel awfully good about where that is going."

hmmmmm a prequel would be cool 20 years or so prior trying to send a child out of rapture or something... But a sequel would also be pretty awesome I would personally wanna explore a different environment maybe on land this time :) and yeah I agree with Honchy about a harder boss the next time round or even multiple super boss'

i think they should make a different story like on the moon or something, cause a prequel wouldn't make sense cause you'd just pick up wheat when sum1 says would you kindly lol! i hope the story is as great as this one! I hope they mae a final boss that has you finnish up all yur EVE and med packs and weapons so u kill him like with ur last hope bullet, this one was a bit too easy...

Having sequel is not a bad thing.... but people ususlly have high expectation on those sequels games like GoW2, Halo3 etc... But regarding what they said, seems like quality in bioshock 2 is not important, but tricking people to buy this game.... I hope they will come up with a better story next time. Maybe better graphic, more weapon choices and more varieties of enemies.,

Omigod, everything's about money these days? In game development? When did this happen? I thought games were made by groups of troubadours, traveling from village to village spreading art and enlightenment to the people, and taking nary a copper piece for their trouble. Naturally, publicly-traded companies who put millions of dollars into game development should be concerned with something other than money. They should worry about making artsy games that don't sell as well as games people actually want to play. Amazingly, good games sell well. And good sequels to good games sell well. Why is a sequel to a game people liked a bad thing? I want to play more Bioshock, but there's some dumbass out there saying, "No, there shouldn't be a Bioshock sequel, 'cause sequels are bad." Well, screw you. I want to play a Bioshock 2, and a Gears 2, and more Rainbow Six Vegas. Hey, here's an idea: If sequels are bad, boycott sequels! They should make a game where the objective is to come up with the most ridiculous complaint about the gaming industry. You get points to your Gamerscore everytime you trump yourself on stupidity. Then they can make a sequel to that game.

"Take Two" "takes" a turn for the worst here. Bioshock 2 is clearly going to be money driven, and while I never liked BS (funny abbreviation, lol), I will admit it was a great game. And when benjamins are the sole reason you plan to make a sequel, the game tends to be watered down, sometimes exactly the same as the first, just to get a quick buck.

I havent finished it yet but this doesn't seem like the kind of game that should have a sequel. To me it seems they are just capitalizing on great sales with their first game from what I have heard. I could also be totally wrong.

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If BioShock 2 is based on the evil ending that would be cool.
The beggining : Your a Military operative whos has retired and then on the news, you here a missle is coming to the city (you decide on which city) So you run into your basement then you here a big boom and then your knocked unconcious. You wake up to a bunch of people outside that a shooting Ice,eletric,etc outside they see you and freeze you then lock in a jail. Then you wake up and you thought it was a dream but then all of of a sudden the door opens of the jail cell and theres a weird syringe on the table and you grab it and take it with you. Then you get shot shot outside and stab your self with the syringe and think it heals you. But the you feel a pain and then notice you hand turned into (which ever plasmid you want to pick).
Then add a good story to that and you got a good sequel!

BioShock a new "franchise"? For some reason I don't like the sound of that. But when you think about it, a prequel would be pretty sweet. As long as they let K. Levine and the boys do their thing and don't dumb it down, it should be fine.
But still it just sounds so soon.

Great! I'm so happy for Irrational (They're now named differently)! Most of their old games, or, say, even all of them before Bioshock had dismal sales. Vivendi has sure let them down so horrendously (Tribes 3: Vengeance, SWAT 4, Freedom Force 1, 2), & EA (System Shock 2), who probably wasn't somehow confident enough about SS 2's allure.
Take-Two, & THQ are some of the few big publishers that sells original games, & comfortably spaces out the release dates between each sequel/instalment of each franchise, AND KNOWS how to market effectively. Vivendi has in the past been seemingly so shied away from outlandish marketing for some strange reasons, & EA, well... you just know what they're like - always, always mind-numbingly, & annoying-for-the-every-time-that-it-happens CRAP, & dumbed-down gameplay.
I'm sure sales of Bioshock will exceed 4.5 million units total.

To MarcoSnow06: Holy freaking crap, thank you so much. I was sitting here reading over this story trying to decide the best way to say just that, and you just saved me all that time. That's so true. I would love to see the same dev team make another stand-alone game with a similar setting (the same way that Bioshock is spiritually linked to System Shock 2), because these guys are absolutely amazing at making creepy, yet action-packed games with deep stories like that, but a straight up "Bioshock 2" would only cheapen everthing that made Bioshock great.

BioShock is an amazing game and while a sequel would be nice, it certainly would not live up to its predecessor. I mean, the games story and all its elements are specific to where it takes place, the underwater "utopia" of Rapture. By GTA-ing it, you would not only ruin the story driven, actiony/rpgish experience but totally ruin the Bioshock name. Make another spiritual successor. Just like this game wasn't System Shock 3, it was the spiritual succesor. Mysuggestion: Geoshock or something like that.

Make no mistake: I am a huge fan of Bioshock, but turning Bioshock into full-blown franchise like GTA (with one game being released according to an artificial 3-year timetable) would only cheapen the game experience that make Bioshock 1 so special.
Bioshock was a genuinely beautiful game that told a rich, compelling story and had a truly memorable cast of characters. I realize that Bioshock has become an extremely profitable IP, but to make a sequel in an attempt to add on to the story would border on folly. The tale told during Biohock is a self-contained story unto itself: it needs no further explanation. Everything that we (as the player) didn't experience firsthand was relayed effectively through superb voice-acting. A sequel would not only be completely unecessary, Enjoy Bioshock for what it is, don't undermine the game's accomplishments for financial gain. Be proud of the fact that you've created a video game that truly blurs the line between game and art, and tells a story of decadence and collapse into anarchy that captures the imagination of the player and genuinely makes you think.

I'd love to see a prequel to see how the city looked before the war, and also to see how everything happened that ruined the place. I think it would be a definite buy, unless it came out half-assed. But it has potential.

Oh, but if they are going to do a sequel or turn it into a franchise, they better be willing to do it right. No half-ass sequels, if they're going to do it, do it right, even if that means they extend the deadlines and we have to wait longer. No gamer hates anything more than half-ass crap sequels from great titles to make a quick buck.

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@ F4ll3n_1 I wouldnt see much potential for "Bioshock 2" - Rapture is just one world. But if they gave it a spiritual successor, with similar gameplay elements and setting, then it'll shoot to AAA for sure
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What do you mean there isn't much potential for a Bioshock 2. You see how big the game was, but you also look at how much bigger the city they show is compared to what you've seen. There's a lot of potential for a sequel.... or at the very least, a LARGE expansion pack. Or maybe even a badass Prequel to show how it started and show how rapture looked in it's full original glory.
No matter how you look at it, there is a lot of potential as to what they could do with this huge and original world they've created.

X-tract = You mean like the start of it all? that sound awsome. Take the game to the first time it wen't wrong :)
I think that if the release date is first about 3 yeah then is okay too start now! :) the game is awsome, one of the best games this yeah !

In bioshock 2. i dont know what the setting could be cuz of the ending i got from the game. where you save the little sisters. but MORE WEAPON CUSTOMIZATION IS NEED! make the weapons out of this world crazy!

I'm thrilled to hear news of a possible sequel. I sincerely hope they let 2K Boston (aka Irrational) take the lead on it since they're clearly a superb development house. I think the original Rapture plot line is pretty much concluded in BioShock so the sequel would have to be either a prequel taking place in the middle of the Fontaine/Ryan war of 1958 or would be yet another "spiritual sequel" in the same way that BioShock is a spiritual sequel to System Shock 2. Personally I'd favor the spiritual sequel route because as interesting as Rapture was to romp around in I feel pretty well satisfied to never go back, it was a pretty thorough adventure. Any number of other possible settings would make for a great game. How about a massive city-sized starship en route on a 5 year flight to Alpha Centauri? How about another pseudo-historical setting like Victorian England or the American Wild West? Lots of really interesting possibilities that could be made into a great game.

No I dont think they need 2 make a sequal cuse the chance that it will be Perfect is impossible, look at Bioshock now its a great game why the hell you wanna make a sequal only for a bigger budget for there next game??

They should make it so all or most of Rapture is explorable, with a load to different plasmids that modify into specifics, like a more powerful-eve costing electrobolt, or the opposite...or maybe invent-a-tonic with a large number (like about 50) that would give it an outstanding amount to replay value :D

i'd want to see what the former Irrational guys had to say about this. usually these guys aren't too hot on franchising. that said, system shock 2 was loads better than ss1, so as long as they keep it in boston and australia, bioshock 2 looks good. i hope they'll make the RPG element a bit more complex in a sequel, and not dumb it down even more.

This could be a good thing or a bad thing, Bioshock just seemed to me after finishing it that it really couldn't do much, what made the game what was done already. But, that is why I am not on a creative dev team...I am sure they could come up with something that would make sense. I would like sequel, but like I said I got the feeling this would be stand alone.

How can it be too soon for a sequal? After making a successful game, it can be a matter of days before the developers right up ideas for a sequal and get it in the pipeline. Halo2 was being made practically a few weeks after the release of Halo.
Its a hard game to sequal while keeping unqiue, theres only so many ways you can change an underwater city.